Odds Overview
Whenever these two teams meet up, we often see spreads that insinuate we'll be in for a competitive matchup, and that's what we have on the cards for Friday night.

Looking over the NBA odds, we see the Mavericks favored by 2.5 points across the board; keep checking back with SBRodds.com in order to get the best possible number you can. For those more interested in the total, that can be found at 197 points, one of the lower numbers on the board this evening.

Dallas Mavericks
The Mavs have been sputtering a bit of late, losing three of previous four to drop to 14-12 overall. They're in second place in the division by a good margin already (7.5 games behind mighty San Antonio), but all that matters is that they finish in the top eight in the Western Conference as far as the playoffs are concerned.

We've got a long way to go, however, and Dallas will need to pick up wins over strong competition to have any chance of making a run. The Mavericks have struggled against teams with winning records this season and have largely been beating up on weak competition, and that's going to need to change.

We know Dallas has the talent in place to do some damage not only in the regular season but also in the playoffs. They've got wily veterans and some good young talent, not to mention one of the best coaches in the NBA. Don't forget about the Mavericks just yet.

Memphis Grizzlies
Though the Grizzlies have managed to right the ship after a concerning start, they enter tonight's game in a bit of a rut, having also lost three of their last four contests. They were unable to get much going offensively in their most recent defeat, a 13-point setback on the road against Jimmy Butler, Pau Gasol, Derrick Rose and the Bulls.

Memphis again rolled out the smaller starting five, which includes Jeff Green and Matt Barnes in place of Zach Randolph and Tony Allen, who have been coming off the bench instead, but it didn't work out too well against Chicago. That being said, we'll have to assume we'll keep seeing this new-looking starting lineup until we hear otherwise. It's certainly strange to see a player of ZBo's caliber not out there to start the game.

Once renowned as a dominant defensive team, that's no longer been the case for the Grizzlies, who are ranked 17th in scoring defense on the year. They're scoring just 96.2 points per game too, which ranks them even lower 26th on the offensive side of things, so it's clear Memphis still has a lot of things to work on.

NBA Pick
This should be one of the more physical, hard-fought games of the night, and it's not easy picking out a predicted victor.

In the end though, the Mavericks are as healthy as they've been all season, and some of their guy guys are starting to near full strength again, which is a big boost to an already talented team. Dallas has made some great additions to the squad too, namely in the form of point guard Deron Wiliams and then center Zaza Pachulia, who has stepped into the starting lineup and contributed in a number of ways; he's also formed a nice understanding with Nowitzki, who's been turning back the clock somewhat over recent weeks.

So while Memphis certainly is capable of challenging for a straight up victory here, we like Dallas to win and cover the short number. They'll be out for revenge after losing to the Grizzlies on the road a few weeks back, and we expect them to make enough plays down the stretch to earn the W. Dallas seemingly matches up well with Memphis, so we're on the home team. Take Mavs as the NBA pick.